The Caribbean Premier League season continues at the Darren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia on Friday evening as the St Lucia Stars look to get off the mark for the season when they play host to the Barbados Tridents.
These two sides have had very differing fortunes so far this season. St Lucia Stars have been very active but have yet to find a win in their first four matches while Barbados Tridents have only played the one match which they won.
St Lucia Stars
I guess we need to wonder where the St Lucia Stars go from here. Earlier on in the tournament their woes were simple. They were not good enough with the bat but they have just produced one of the best batting performances in CPL history and even that wasn’t good enough. I guess they could wonder why they chose to bat on a perfect wicket but even so the way they collapsed with the ball was concerning.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we see in the coming days that Kieron Pollard hands the captaincy over because he has been making some strange decisions in the field. The thing the Stars have to guard against here is going too big with the bat in a bid to reach an enormous score and collapse into nothing and given themselves no chance.
Barbados Tridents
I’m guessing the Barbados Tridents will be looking forward to a run of matches because this tournament has been going on for well over a week now and this is only their second outing of the competition. Their first game was last weekend so they may well be struggling for rhythm heading into this encounter.
One thing the Tridents will be grateful for when it comes to their slow start is it has meant that Hashim Amla has only missed one match before his arrival. When you look at the Tridents they look well equipped for this wicket as they have a long and powerful batting line up and tons of heat in their attack with the ball.
Team News
Something has to give for the St Lucia Stars. They will probably have to do something with their bowling attack in an attempt to pick up a win. If Darren Sammy isn’t going to bowl his place in the side may be better suited to someone else.
Barbados Tridents have Hashim Amla in the Caribbean but whether he is ready to play remains to be seen. If he isn’t fit then the Tridents may be unchanged as they go in search of a second successive win.
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Betting
It is hard to go with the St Lucia Stars here. I would have said that anyway given that they only played on Thursday night but the way they lost that match makes me swerve them even more and ultimately the Barbados Tridents look good things here. I love how deep they bat and if they are forced to bat first I think they have the heat and the skill in their attack to defend a decent total. You can’t say that about St Lucia after the way they surrendered on Thursday so it is the Tridents for me.
I think we saw on Thursday night that there are going to be a huge number of sixes on this ground throughout the competition. Barbados hit nine of them on a tacky and sluggish wicket in Guyana so their batsmen should enjoy themselves here. There were 34 sixes here on Thursday and I’m expecting to see a shade over half of that in this one given the power in the two batting line ups.
I took the performance of Kieron Pollard on Thursday and he put together a total of 95pts so I’m very surprised his line has stayed the same at 37.5. We saw him score in all three ways on Thursday and whether he needs the three scoring methods or covers it in one I expect him to cover it especially having played for Barbados for the last few seasons so he should know all about the opposition.
We’ve seen all tournament that St Lucia Stars are horrendous in the death overs so I’m going to take a chance that nobody has flown too far clear of Nicholas Pooran when it comes to being the top Barbados batsman. Pooran clubbed a load of runs in the previous match and although it wasn’t enough to top score it highlighted the potential he has with the bat. St Lucia crumbled to an aggressive left hander in the middle order on Thursday and at 10/1 I’ll pay to see if lightning strikes twice.
Tips
Back Barbados Tridents to beat St Lucia Stars for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
WON – Back K.Pollard’s Performance – Over 37.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
WON – Back Over 17.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with LeoVegas
Back it here:
Back N.Pooran Top Barbados Tridents Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 11.00 with 888sport
Back him here:
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